


The List

by leiascully



Series: The FBI's Most Unwanted [59]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, X-Files OctoberFicFest 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2021-02-20 08:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22078834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/pseuds/leiascully
Summary: Scully would have an encyclopedic list of exquisitely minute retributions to deliver, and neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night would distract her, if she turned her mind to it.
Series: The FBI's Most Unwanted [59]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/249118
Kudos: 9





	The List

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: "The List"  
> A/N: For the Inktober prompt "frail".

Scully wasn’t frail. He knew she thought he saw her that way, sometimes, but god, when she walked, he saw an archangel bestride the world, sword in hand. Scully would have a list. Scully would have an encyclopedic list of exquisitely minute retributions to deliver, and neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night would distract her, if she turned her mind to it. Mulder hesitated to consider what he would merit. How exactly was one supposed to tell a woman she’d make a hell of a force of cosmic justice and make it sound like a compliment, anyway. 

First Neech and now Rappo: vengeance, delivered inexplicably. Each man had played judge, jury, and executioner. There was disapproval in Scully’s eyes as she read over their notes on the way back to DC.

“What a waste,” she murmured. 

“What’s a waste?” Mulder asked, cracking a sunflower seed as he drove.

“If, and I’m not saying that it’s possible, Mulder, but if we accept the premise that these men from our last few cases did have some sort of supernatural or preternatural ability to affect the lives of others, why not use it for good?” she asked. “I mean, if you were given that opportunity, why spend that kind of energy on harming others?”

“So you would have forgiven the people who’ve done you wrong?” Mulder asked.

“I know you’re not particularly religious, but forgiveness is important to me,” she said, a stubborn note in her voice, as if he was contesting her faith.

“I’m just surprised,” he told her. “I always thought you were more justice than mercy.”

She sighed. “We rarely have the luxury of mercy, Mulder. We’re charged with justice as agents of the FBI. We’re working for the Department of Justice. I do wonder sometimes how much headway we make in bending the moral arc of the universe. What justice did we bring today? And what mercy?”

“I guess I’m lucky that you’re inclined to forgiveness when it comes to personal matters,” he said.

“Yes, you are,” she said, her teeth glinting in the slanting afternoon light. “I guess I met my quota for mercy after all.”

No, she wasn’t frail. She had a heart as open as the frontier, and just as wild. After everything they’d been through, she would still rather forgive. He wasn’t that strong. He wanted a blood sacrifice to redeem his pain. He supposed she’d already had one, after a fashion: there was the whole to-do at Gethsemane. 

“You always surprise me,” Mulder said. 

“Maybe I’m just trying to lull you into a false sense of security,” she said, looking out the window.

“Ah, Scully,” he said fondly, and drove on.


End file.
